If you’re like me and you picked the desert in OSRS’ Raging Echoes league game mode, you’re probably wondering how the hell Echo KQ even works. Well, I’ve killed it over 20 times and have gotten the blowpipe now, and I think I’ve gotten the hang of it. The mechanics are actually really simple, and it’s just a matter of timing your clicks properly.
Depending on when I publish this, there’s probably already videos around of successful kills too. I’ll have animated examples in this article too if you don’t feel like searching elsewhere! Full fight example on YouTube at the bottom if you prefer that.
Prepping for Echo KQ
Before we begin, I should probably tell you what my relics & masteries are just so we’re on the same page here. The mechanics will work the same, but I can’t tell you what its resistances are because I have full ranged masteries, which means I never miss no matter what.
I also have Banker’s Note and a metric f-ton of noted karambwan that I used to learn the fight. However, that becomes completely unnecessary once you got the encounter all figured out. In fact, you can even do it without taking damage.
Throw on your best prayer gear if you plan on staying here long, otherwise, just put on whatever you feel like using. Run over to the KQ entrance and bring one antipoison just in case you get inflicted on the way there. Don’t forget the Desert echo orb!
EDIT: I see some of you trying to search “desert echo orb” in my blog lol. If you don’t have one yet, you only need to keep killing the regular KQ until it drops one. Took me 18 kills to get mine.
Here’s what my inventory looked like for this example:
Echo KQ – First Phase
When you first get into the cave, get within melee range ASAP and do not engage with any of the other mobs in the area. I’ve had the boss aggro me while I was all the way at the entrance when I tried killing the guardians there.
Turn on Protect from Melee and start attacking the boss. As long as you stick to it, the boss should only try to melee you. From here, there are two things to watch out for, which are the following:
Mage Attack
When the Echo KQ raises its front legs and starts charging up energy from its mandibles, it is about to hit you with a magic attack. When this happens, immediately switch to Protect from Magic and wait for the hitsplat before switching back to Protect from Melee.
If you get hit by the magic attack, you’ll take a lot of damage and your prayer will get significantly drained. She’ll typically do this 1-3 times per phase, depending on how fast you kill her.
Shockwave Attack
You will also want to pay close attention to the yellow bar under her health. When this meter fills up, Echo KQ will do the same charging animation as above, except it will have a distinct buzzing audio cue and “Bzzzz!” will pop up over its head.
When this happens, or even just before the bar fills up, step under her. A shockwave that will hit like a truck will be released after a brief moment, and this will extend all the way around her hitbox.
After that, immediately step back to where you previously were. This time, she’ll charge up again, and another shockwave will appear, except it’ll be completely within her hitbox.
This pattern will repeat until around five shockwaves have been released, and the flow seems to go: Out -> In -> Out -> In -> Out. Just to give you fewer things to think about, don’t try to count it and just get into the flow of avoiding the shockwaves until it completely stops.
If your ping permits it and you’re confident enough to try, you can even weave in some hits by clicking on the boss whenever you have to step out of her hitbox.
Here is an example of how to avoid it + attacking her at the same time:
Echo KQ – Second Phase
When you take down the first phase, she will then shift to her next form, just like the original boss. While the animation plays, switch to Protect from Range. You can turn it off during the animation if you need to save prayer points.
For this one, you will want to remain in melee range and just keep your prayer up at all times. You will also want to stand in the middle tile outside of her 5×5 hitbox, like this:
The tip above will make sense in a bit, but first, do note that she will also have the same mage attack from earlier. So, same as before, switch to Protect from Magic whenever she charges up, and then go back to the range prayer afterwards.
Shockwave Attack 2.0
The one thing that changes in this phase is her shockwave attack. Again, pay attention to the yellow bar above her health. When that fills up, she’ll go “Bzzzz!” again, but the pattern will change.
Echo KQ will instead fire a long column of lightning three tiles wide centered on your character. This is telegraphed by circle shadows that will grow very quickly.
To avoid this, you just need to sprint away in time. This is where the tip from earlier comes in handy. If you’re on the middle tile adjacent to her hitbox, the pattern will be very predictable and you can avoid it by simply running two tiles to the left or right.
… And that’s pretty much it for this boss. Depending on your experience with PVM, you can probably get no-hit runs against this bug right from the start, but if you’re new, prepare a bit of food and a prayer potion or two (or moonlight moths) just in case you mess up.
BONUS TIP: If you’re using Runelite, change the left click of the Kalphite Workers in this cave to “walk here“. They’ll occasionally mess up your clicks, which I learned the hard way in one of my earlier attempts.
If you want to watch an example of the full fight, below will be a quick video of one attempt: